Platinum in LED's

[Fever]

I've been told there is Platinum in LED's, the tiny lights that are so common in modern electronics. I've also been told it is a very small amount that is sputtered into the die cup on the leads. Looking at this die cup under a microscope, it sure is lined with a very bright silver compound!

Does anyone have more information on this? I have scoured the web looking for some specialized information, but can't really find any specifics as to the Platinum component of the LED's. Here's the best link I've found, with a fairly comprehensive breakdown of the various LED parameters.

http://www.gizmology.net/LEDs.htm

Looking forward to knowing more about this, as I have hundreds of LED's I've been saving and hoping to refine one day.....

Fever

 

[Noxx]

Never eared about them... I don't know how they could be refined too... Maybe by crushing them ?

 

[lazersteve]

Fever,

The hardest part of processing them is getting thru the epoxy encapsulation. The connecting wire between the anode and cathode is usually gold.

Materials used are typically made out of different proportions of Ga, As, In, P, AL, Zn, S and Si depending on the output wavelength desired.

This comes from the following more detailed document:

http://www.lambdares.com/data/Tappnotes/LEDApplicationNote-LuxeonLED.pdf

I remember reading somewhere on the interent about a guy who claims he had a way to dissolve the epoxy shells. I was googling ideas on dissolving ic packages when I ran across it last year or so. I may have book marked the info on my old hard drive. I'll need to do some looking to find it. I have some very good college texts on etchants and solvents for all sorts of electronics materials including the various heat cured epoxies used in these items. I'll see what I can dig up.

Steve

 

[Fever]

I have no trouble whatsoever crushing the epoxy encapsulation with a pliers. Do it gently enough and the leads fall right out undamaged. I have lots of pretty leads with bright silver die cups on the end. I'm told this is where the Pt is. They are VERY small, but like everything else, it all adds up.

Excellent link, and I'm looking forward to your findings Steve.....

Fever

 

[Fever]

Here's a pic of the leads with the die cup on the terminal end. Sorry for the lack of detail. I need more megapixels!!!

Fever

 

[lazersteve]

Fever,

The epoxy bulb is typically where the gold wire is. By crushing them you may be losing it.

Steve

 

[Noxx]

Ok then, crushing may not be a good idea

 

[Fever]

Steve-

Yes, I was more intent on liberating the leads for the Platinum in the die cup rather than that super-fine gold wire. I never thought it would survive any mechanical removal from the epoxy, so I didn't bother to even try.

I'd really like to know exactly how the Pt is applied to the die cup, and in what amounts. Just knowing that they contain Pt is almost good enough, but I can't find a concrete answer on this either, just second hand knowledge.

Anybody know for sure?

Fever

 

[Harold_V]

I have no clue, not even if there is platinum present, or not, but when you consider that LED's have a price on the retail market of just a few cents, I question if they'd be worth processing by any means. The amount of precious metals, combined, must border on immeasurable. Certainly one's time must be worth something-----

Harold

 

[lazersteve]

Excellent point again Harold.

 

[Fever]

You have a good point indeed Harold. What the hell am I doing!!!??? :lol:

While it's true that some LED's are quite cheap, there are some others that are considerably more expensive, and thus, must reflect in the cost to manufacture such items. That extra cost may or may not reflect the amount of Pt (if any exists, as you stated), but I'd like to think so

I'm going to hang on to them for a while. Maybe someone can yet provide us with an answer.

Fever

 

[Harold_V]

I'd certainly encourage you, or anyone, to hold on to anything that is unknown until you can ascertain that it is or isn't worth running, but if your objective is to accumulate precious metals, there's ways to do that without spinning your wheels. Just make sure that the effort you expend bears fruit. Once you've determined that by means at your disposal, regardless of how hard you work, you can't make minimum wage, it's time to think about looking elsewhere. Valuable time that could prove profitable is being wasted. Sort of like beating a dead horse.

While everyone isn't likely to enjoy the degree of success I did as a refiner (it was all due to my timing---gold regulations were dropped right after I learned how to refine), that's one of the fastest and easiest ways I can think of to accumulate precious metals. I refined on a percentage basis, and once I proved myself to the customers, word spread quite quickly. Unsolicited, I had over 60 customers, which was all I could deal with. Many of them were out-of-state people----again, unsolicited. Do good work and don't cheat the customer and they won't leave you alone. Hard part is breaking the ice-----getting them to give you a try. Once you've done that, the biggest mistake you can make is dispensing low quality-----or cheating them.

You may not have an objective of being in business as a refiner, in which case forget anything I said!

Harold

 

[Fever]

I have no intentions of becoming a commercial refiner of PM's, but I'd love to do it just as a hobby, and for personal satisfaction. I've always been a scrapper, since I was very young, I always enjoyed reverse-engineering things. I don't have any dreams of getting rich with my e-scrap hobby, but it sure will be nice to hold a solid, refined chunk of Au in my hand and call it my own!

Fever

 

[toadiesop]

I just cracked open an LED that was made in the 70s (got it from an old record player) and the leads starting from where the epoxy was, right up to the cup are covered in obvious heavy gold plate.

I'll try to get a decent picture later. So I think maybe the older ones would be worth refining for gold if you can find the right ones and you have a nice amount of them.

I'll be going out to my garage and see how many different kinds I can round up. Should be quite a few....